Stable farming & the key to rural Australia

23 June 2013 , 9:13 AM by Rob Minshull

The political debate over the Federal Government's Farming Assistance Package has been raging in Queensland this past week. The Federal Government says the money is ready, the State Government says will only increase farmers' debt.

Meanwhile, Queensland dairy farmers are going out of business, other farms are said to be on the brink of collapse and some have had their lines of credit cut.

The short-term picture is bleak, but what about the future of our farms - and the future of rural Australia - in the long term? Dr Mark McGovern is from the Business School at the Queensland University of Technology.

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One word - diversify. Animal based industries are on the decline and environmental destruction will lead to further problems. Governments should be supporting farmers by offering advise and money for farmers to move into plant based industries. With world population out of control, only fast growing high protein foods will survive into the future.

Move into plant based industries? This argument time and time again. Pick up a book, any book on the topic of tillage agriculture you'll learn some basics on cropping. The most basic being you have to clear land. Another fundamental being that you must always add an external source of fertilizer to crops, cropping does not give back nutrients to the soil unless you rotate it with grazing animals ($20 loaf of bread anyone? Who pays for these animals if not eaten?). Mostly this comes in the form f mineral based NPK. Mined out of the ground. Have a read on how it's production affects the biosphere & c02 levels.

Animals graze on poor quality land, which we have in vast quantities in Oz. Our arable land suited to crops is a precious green strip around our perimeter. Look up Allan Savory's TED Talk on YouTube or pick up a Joel Salatin book on the essential relationship ruminant animals share with topsoil.

This debate is too often oversimplified by reciting out of date or outof context info. If you care you'll make ur own mind up. Not follow the herd mentality created by highly political interest groups. Australia has huge sustainable potential. Let's not screw it up with uninformed "sound bites" from our favorite "charities" or campaigns (looking at you Voiceless, Animals Aus etc)

great interview of mark mcgovern by warren boland,commend warren for the positive understanding of the topic;for over fifty years, when a farmer attempted to expose a problem with any rural industry, they were ridiculed as "wingeing farmers", a put down that led to mental stress and many suicides.I believe that for any industry to be viable and self sufficient,every essential enterprise that makes up the chain of production, must have a positive income or margin of profit.If this simple rule does not prevail, eventually that industry will fail.
Using bread and the return for wheat at the farm gate as an example, when the price for wheat is $250 per tonne and the fact that over 2500 loaves of bread are baked from each tonne, that means 10 cents of wheat is used to make a loaf of bread. This means 4 cents value for every $100 dollars value per tonne. A tonne of wheat that costs $250,will gross $7500 when 2500 loaves are made and sold at $3 per loaf.
There have been years where the wheat price has been less than $100 a tonne for prime hard wheat ie 1990 when the iran-iraqi war broke out. World parity pricing and other corrupting and unfair principles and factors like competition policy, give no protection for a fair and equitable reward for any primary product at the farm gate. Get more efficient is a favourite term used by economic rationalists;the modern definition for efficiency is ,"grow more and more for less and less until everything is grown for nothing". Orderly marketing has to be considered but it defies the principles of many economists.
Mark made the point many times over the years,primary industry has not been given due consideration in its importance to the australian economy and future. Farming is just not sexy enough.
The average age for a farmer is over 55. i would never advise anyone to consider farming as a business with potential for earning a fair reward.
malcolm groves toowoomba ph0428333752